Heath Ledger Died With Stephen Gaghan's Script in His Bed: 'I Literally Collapsed,' Director Recalls of Hearing the News

Director Stephen Gaghan is spilling details on what went through his mind when colleague Heath Ledger was found dead in 2008.

While appearing on the "Developmental H---" podcast, Gaghan talked to Blink author Malcolm Gladwell about how he was in the process of turning his book into a movie.

At first, the Oscar-winning filmmaker, 58, had been discussing the possible film with Leonardo DiCaprio, 49, but after crossing paths with the late father-of-one — who passed away at age 28 due to an accidental drug overdose — he knew Ledger was the right one for the lead role.

"I had met Heath Ledger and I’d gotten to be very very close with him instantly. I just had a real connection with him that was, kind of, unusual and very special to me," shared Gaghan. "I got really excited, and I started seeing him as the main character. Once I started seeing that, I couldn’t unsee it."

Unfortunately, Ledger passed before any cameras started rolling.

Never miss a story — sign up for the OK! newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what OK! has to offer. It’s gossip too good to wait for!

"I'm in an airport with my wife just going from one place to another, and I literally just collapse — never happened to me before or since. My feet went out from under me. I just literally sat down because I was like, what?" Gaghan recalled of hearing the news.

"The emotion, what they were going through, I should not have been a party to in any way really, and yet as a human or as somebody who just cares, I just was there and I was listening and my wife was looking at me," he said of getting the tragic phone call from Ledger's dad. "I remember her face and I was just like, I was speechless. I just listened and listened and listened. It was just really, really sad. And it’s still sad."

"They were there with the body and our script was in bed with him, and your book was on the bedside table," Gaghan informed Gladwell. “I think my number was on the script, like, written. These guys, as you can imagine, they are in shock, and they dialed that number, and I don’t know why."

The Brokeback Mountain actor was found unresponsive in his NYC apartment.

An autopsy determined his death was "the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine."

"The manner of death is accident[al], resulting from the abuse of prescribed medications," the report concluded.